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Sunday, 28 October 2007

I got tagged by the lovely, talented Deb on Friday! Now I've got 5 questions to answer:1. If you could have 100.00 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? This is tricky! I do like papers a lot and I tend to buy papers before anything else, but if somebody were to give me that money, maybe that would be the perfect time to expand my stash of embellishments… No – papers! Then I can always use them to make my own embellishments.2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or rubons, which would you choose? This isn’t hard: I’ve never been much of a stamper, and try as I might, me and stamps just don’t get on. So it would be rubons – I’ve been using them a little bit more lately and really like them (although, I suppose the adopted Scot in me should choose the stamps, they’re so much more economical, lol).3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year...which would you do? Cards, without a doubt! I do like scrapbooking, and I’ve started several albums for my girls and the family, but I never get very far, because there’s always another card that needs to be made.4. Would you rather own a scrapbooking store or have your own scrapping room at home...(can't have both he he he) I have not got a mind for business, so it would be my own scrapping room, definitely! I dream about having one, all nice and organised :)

5. And last but not least, what is your CURRENT cardmaking or scrapping style....Now this can be tough to nail down! I’ve always liked clean lines and a fairly uncluttered look on my cards. I’ve been experimenting with a slightly less regimented look and more embellishments, but keep coming back to the “less is more” approach. However, I do love lots of embellishments and a more free-style approach on other people’s cards! Just can’t seem to pull it of myself.Now for the hardest part, to pick only 5 people to tag! I have choosen, in no particular order:

Had a wonderful day in Glasgow yesterday at the Hobbycrafts Show, spent lots of money :) Finally got myself some scallop punches, so I'm looking forward to having a play with them. Also stocked up on some more ribbon, some chipboard, got BG Figgy Pudding papers in a 6x6 stack and a couple more assorted pieces of paper and cardstock.Didn't really enjoy how busy it was - it's funny, but some people seem to leave their good manners at the door when they come to these events. There is so much pushing and shoving, sneaking in ahead of others etc. My friend heard somebody say she was going to develop "Craftrage" due to people's lack of consideration. Still, we had fun :)

Friday, 26 October 2007

After I missed the Little Extra this week, I thought I'd better join in with the Daring Cardmakers Friday challenge :) And today, we were asked to make a Christmas card with ribbon on it. I've got two to share - one that I had already started when the challenge came along, and one specially for the challenge. Number one I like, number two I'm not so keen on.

One:

This uses DCWV paper scraps, some silver ribbon, and Dovecraft brads. The greeting was printed by computer. Same idea as a previous card, just different colours.

Two:

This uses Dovecraft paper, cardstock scraps, QK stockings which are hung from green ricrac (hope this qualifies as ribbon), QK greeting (I'll never do that again, every letter individually cut and adhered - far too time-consuming and fiddly. I don't do fiddly.) and a red ribbon thingy.

Right, back to the craft table, still plenty more to make! Bye for now, thanks for looking.

Thursday, 25 October 2007

Another quick update only, not getting round to any challenges at all, as people are putting in special orders on short notice and I'm still preparing for the craft fairs.

Here's the anniversary card I made for one of my neighbours, using my Cuttlebug embossing folder again, some of my new ribbon, silver pearlescent cardstock and plain black and red cardstock. Oh, and some tiny gems I got from WHSmith some time ago.

Tuesday, 23 October 2007

Finally got round to making a card for the Daring Cardmakers first anniversary challenge! The theme is "Our Amazing Circle of Friends", so the card had to incorporate circles and something to do with friends or friendship. I've been thinking about this since Friday, but still wasn't sure what to do when I finally got to sit down at my table last night. In the end, I came up with this:

I cut the circles with my Sizzix circles die and then cut the apertures out again with a smaller circle. They're not entirely central, but I don't think that matters too much. The message was done with a Dymo labeller and the background paper is Basic Grey (Color me Silly, I think). I enjoyed doing this, it's a bit different.

Sunday, 21 October 2007

I'm just quickly updating with a couple of cards I made on Friday. One is for Di Hickman's October sketch #3 and the second is another one for the box:

Had fun making these! My stocks are looking healthier, but boy, there is still a long way to go! Still, I'm really enjoying my cardmaking these days, not least thanks to blogworld!

Got to dash now, having a busy weekend: yesterday was eldest daughter's ninth birthday, complete with a party for 5 of her friends. I always forget how loud and wild girls can be - the noise levels were quite amazing at times! But they had fun, and all we did was good old-fashioned games and some food. Just goes to show, they don't really need these fancy organized parties - yes, those are fun, too, but definitely not the be-all-and-end-all.

Today, we've already been to support my friend who was doing a sponsored abseil off the Forth Rail Bridge! She absolutely adores the bridge and said it was just wonderful being up there. Good turnout, lots of worthy causes! And now we're off to the in-laws for Sunday dinner and some more presents for eldest daughter. Just as well, her main present from us is still caught up in the postal strike backlog somewhere... Bye for now, thanks for looking!

Thursday, 18 October 2007

Wow, I've been given an award! The lovely Ying Pang presented me with this:

Thank you very much! Now I get to nominate ten people, whose blogs inspire me and make me smile. I compiled my list last night, so I hope everybody hasn't been nominated in the meantime! If you have - well, that's a good thing, you make lots of people smile :) So here are the 10 whose blogs I like to visit for inspiration and entertainment:

Wednesday, 17 October 2007

Not getting an awful lot of crafting done this week: the kids are off school and hubby has taken the week off, too. So we're out and about a lot, taking day trips and doing family things. We thought about going away, but then decided that there's so much to see and do round about, we might as well save our pennies, especially since we've booked our trip to the US for next spring!

Anyway, I did make a card for DCM's Santa's Little Extra Helper no 2, which asked us to make a card with Christmas trees:

I'm using up scraps of paper again, this time Doodlebug, added Dovecraft brads for baubles and inked around pretty much everything.

Had a lovely time visiting castle ruins today, the weather was cold but beautiful, the views were breathtaking, and best of all, kids go free this October at Historic Scotland sites! The girls had a blast, too, they like nothing better than exploring old ruins and trying to picture what it might once have looked like. They also got to do a quiz today and received a badge at the end as a reward. Happy children :)

Saturday, 13 October 2007

Took some time out to craft this morning while the kids were messing up the playroom and the living room - I think it's called "playing", but how do they do it? I mean, those two rooms looked as if bombs had dropped, the carpet was barely visible! But they had fun, and I got to make cards, so that can only be good!

Boy, did I struggle! I drew a complete blank at first: I don't have any animal print papers, animal dies or animal stamps! Don't know why, but I just don't. So that made the challenge a lot harder... Then I suddenly remembered photos my husband had taken during our spring holiday in the north of Scotland: we'd been lucky enough to see this stag right by the road side, and there was a passing place just shortly after, so hubby got out and snapped away for the best part of half an hour. Well, stags are wild animals, so this should qualify for the challenge. I used some Costco paper for the background, brown velvet ribbon, a couple of prima flowers, and QK die cut greeting. Quite a simple card, but the photo needs to take centre stage, I think.

I also made a couple of cards using Di Hickman's latest sketch. These were fun to make, it's a sketch I'll probably be using a lot.

Wednesday, 10 October 2007

The Daring Cardmakers are very kindly helping us with our Christmas card making by giving their Little Extras on a Tuesday a Christmas theme. This week it's Christmas words - good timing for me, as that's exactly what I had been planning on doing anyway! I'd already got letters cut for my words and looked out the papers, so these came together very quickly. Plus, they are based on a layout I did before for the "Big Softie" challenge some weeks back.

I used Dovecraft papers, cardstock from the Papermill Shop, Sizzlits round-a-bout alphabet dies, Sizzix star die and a Cuttlebug snowflake die. The patterned paper and purple card have got a touch of ink around the edges. Thanks for the challenge and spurring me into action again!

Now I'm off to work on eldest daughter's pirate costume - they've been working on a pirate theme for the last few weeks at school, including a massive paper mache pirate ship along one wall, treasure maps, stories about themselves as pirate captains, and now they're going to put all this into a kind of show for some of the younger children. Sounds good fun! So there's sleeves and hems needing frayed, sashes and head scarves needing looked out, and hopefully I can persuade youngest daughter to part with the eye patch and hook. She's been wearing them constantly for the last two days and giving everybody her best pirate growls - very funny and very cute :) Bye for now!

Sunday, 7 October 2007

This week's challenge at the Daring Cardmakers was to create a postcard and actually post it, too! Again, I found this rather, well - challenging! I was really worried about putting anything on that might get damaged in the post. So I kept it all very simple and very flat. I didn't seem to be able to avoid using inky stuff, however, so I'm really hoping it won't get exposed to rain... Ahhh, one can but dream! Anyway, here it is:

I used varoius scraps of paper for the inked squares border, a Sizzix cut daisy and MM magnetic stamps for the greeting - which says "Greetings from Scotland" in German, and I'm going to post this to my parents. We talk on the phone so much, that I hardly ever send them any letters or cards now, so I thought this would be a nice thing to do. Have to say though, that I'll probably end up cheating and pop this card in an envelope after all... Just for the card's safety...

Well, I'm just about to pop into town to see what the local craft shop has to offer, I'm feeling the need... Having a lazy weekend and enjoying it :) Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, 4 October 2007

There's nothing like doing things at the last minute, is there? I must admit, I really struggled with this DCM challenge. I had my stamps all ready on Tuesday (they were the only ones I had handy, from a letter I've been meaning to answer for months...), and then I just couldn't think of what to do with them. I finally sat down again today and just started. But I still struggled matching cardstock and papers with the stamps. In the end, I gave up on patterned paper and resorted to my lovely new embossing folders :) I also used some of my gorgeous new ribbon :)) So here is my attempt:

This was a great challenge and really got me thinking! I do like these floral postage stamps - look familiar, Rhi?

Tuesday, 2 October 2007

I decided that it happened far too often that I didn't have the right colour of ribbon to hand, so it was time to order some. I may have gotten a little carried away - it was quite a substantial bundle I received this morning (and I'd only ordered yesterday lunchtime, how's that for fast service!). But I'm very happy with everything I ordered, the colours are beautiful - I was a little worried, because on-screen colours aren't always true to the real thing, but no, everything is just as vibrant and luscious as I hoped (big grin).

Oh, and I received my last embossing folder yesterday, so I'm definitely very happy. Lots of good post days lately!